Typically, pressurized containers of the aerosol bomb type comprise a can, most often cylindrical, that contains both the product to be dispensed and a pressurized propellant, as well as a valve to enable dispensing the product under the influence of the propellant and a device for actuation of the valve by the user.
The valve is usually disposed in the center of a cup that is generally crimped to the edge of the cylindrical can with a bead. It is actuated by a device that fits onto the pressurized container at the end having the valve. This device includes a skirt integrally joined to the cylindrical can in telescoping fashion or by being screwed to it; a regulating nozzle connected to the outlet tube of the valve, the outlet tube generally being fixed to the cup with the aid of a reinforcement; and a device for actuating the valve, hereinafter simply called a pushbutton, on which the user presses, and with which the valve can be made to operate and the product to be dispensed can be brought to the regulating nozzle.
Depending on how the product is to be dispensed, the pressurized container is made to function by keeping the valve at the top (a position hereinafter called top up) or at the bottom (a position hereinafter called top down). In the first case the valve is generally connected to a plunger tube located inside the container in such a way as to use the product contained until it is exhausted. If the container is used in an unsuitable position, the risk is that some of the propellant may escape by itself, without the product to be dispensed, or carrying only a small quantity of product to be dispensed with it.
Thus if the container is used in the wrong position, there may be a loss of the product, the propellant, or both.
The present applicant, in French Patent Application No. 88-06271 filed on May 10, 1988, has proposed a system that locks the pushbutton and prevents the opening of the valve when the pressurized container is not in the proper position. This system is located between the pushbutton and the cup in which the valve is disposed, and it includes a suitably inclined channel within which a movable device such as a ball circulates by gravity; when it is located at the end of the channel toward the valve, the device comes to block the pushbutton by cooperating with an integral portion of the pushbutton and an integral portion of the cup.
This blocking system, while providing notable progress, bears further improvement both in terms of simplicity of design and manufacture, and in terms of functional dependability. It is particularly important that the blocking and unblocking of the actuating device be reliable.